Category: Bulls History

Reports: Chicago Bulls Hall of Fame forward Chet Walker has passed away

Walker is a Chicago Bulls Ring of Honor member, and passed away in Long Beach, California on June 8, 2024. Rest in peace.

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame small forward and Chicago Bulls alum Chet Walker has passed away per multiple reports. Walker, a native of Bethlehem, Mississippi, played his college ball at Bradley, where he garnered All-American honors twice and three-time First-Team All Missouri Valley Conference before being drafted by the then-Syracuse Nationals (now, Philadelphia 76ers) 14th overall in the 1962 NBA draft. The 6-foot-7 forward would win a title with the Sixers in 1967.

Chet “the Jet” (as he was sometimes called for a nickname) would play seven seasons with that ball club before being traded with Shaler Halimon to the Chicago Bulls for Bob Kauffman and Jim Washington in 1969. Walker would play the final six seasons of his career with Chicago, making All-Star with the Bulls for four of his seven career nods.

He is also a Chicago Bulls Ring of Honor member, and passed away in Long Beach, California on June 8, 2024. Rest in peace, Chet.

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Jimmy Butler’s verbal altercation with Fred Hoiberg on Bulls

During his time on the Chicago Bulls, Jimmy Butler got into a verbal altercation with then-head coach Fred Hoiberg.

The Chicago Bulls roster has tossed and turned for the past decade, but at the beginning of the 2010s, it was run by Jimmy Butler. The now-Miami Heat forward cut his teeth with the Bulls, but was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves after spending six seasons with the franchise.

Since then, he’s played for the Philadelphia 76ers and Heat, bringing Miami to two NBA Finals appearances during his time there. Butler has been known for his hard-nosed style on and off the court, and during his time in Chicago, that was very apparent, too. He even got into an altercation with then-head coach Fred Hoiberg.

During an appearance on the Thanalysis Show, a podcast hosted by Milwaukee Bucks big man Thanasis Antetokounmpo, ex-Bull Michael Carter-Williams recalled a verbal altercation between Butler and Hoiberg. (H/t Doric Sam of Bleacher Report)

“Coach Hoiberg is like, ‘Jimmy, this starts with me and you, what’s going on?’ And then Jimmy goes, ‘Well, one, I think you’re soft. Two, I don’t like you,'” Carter-Williams explained. “And he didn’t even get to three and Coach Hoiberg was like, ‘Well, then f–k you, Jimmy.'”

Butler has made a career out of this type of mentality, and though it may not rub some people the right way, he’s found plenty of success along the way.

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Bulls supposedly don’t want to help LeBron James, Lakers

The Chicago Bulls may not want to help LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers don’t make many trades together. The two teams have only made seven trades together in their franchise histories and only one from 1983. That deal was in 2016 when the Bulls sent Jose Calderon, a 2018 second-round pick, and a 2019 second-round pick to the Lakers in exchange for  Ater Majok.

The question is, why do these two teams not make trades with each other? There’s no definite reason, but Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report believes that it has to do with Chicago’s ownership not wanting to help LeBron James, as the GOAT debate between him and Michael Jordan has gotten stronger and stronger over the years.

He discussed this with Jovan Buha of The Athletic during a recent edition of the “Buha’s Block” podcast. (H/t Farbod Esnaashari of Bulls News)

“Go look at the transaction logs of Lakers-Chicago,” Pincus said. “They don’t make trades together. The last one was like during when the Lakers were rebuilding and were terrible. The Bulls dumped an older Spanish point guard on them…I think their owner doesn’t want LeBron infringing upon Michael’s legacy,…The intel is that they’re just not gonna help LeBron.”

Are the Bulls just being petty? And is that a good thing?

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Caitlin Clark first athlete since Michael Jordan with Wilson collaboration

Caitlin Clark will be the first athlete since Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan to release a collaboration with Wilson.

Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan released a collaboration with Wilson, unveiling a line of his very own basketballs. Now, Indiana Fever rookie and Iowa legend Caitlin Clark has joined him. She is the first athlete since Jordan in the 1980s to collaborate with Wilson on a line of basketballs.

“Clark joins the century-old company as an ambassador, and soon, fans across the globe will be able to snag products from her forthcoming signature basketball collection that celebrates the 22-year-old’s impact on the game,” wrote Vinciane Ngomsi of Boardroom. “The only other athlete who has dropped a collaboration with Wilson was Michael Jordan in the 1980s.”

Clark spoke to Boardroom about how excited she is for the project.

“I loved that thing more than anything. My brothers and I would always fight over it,” Clark told Boardroom. “That was the best basketball. But I’m just super excited to have a collaboration and create basketballs together that are really cool. I’ve seen the designs that young girls, boys, whoever can get their hands on and go dribble in the driveway or take it to practice with them.”

Standing alone next to Jordan is any realm is impressive, and things are just getting started for Clark.

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Are the Anthony Edwards-Michael Jordan comparisons legit?

How realistic are the Michael Jordan-Anthony Edwards comparisons?

The last time the Chicago Bulls won a championship, Michael Jordan was leading the charge. He’s widely regarded as the best player in NBA history, but there’s one guy in the league getting a ton of comparisons to him right now: Anthony Edwards. Elias Schuster of Bleacher Nation weighed in on those likening Edwards to Jordan.

“The Anthony Edwards-Michael Jordan comparisons are growing louder,” Schuster wrote. “I think we can all agree that attaching anyone to the GOAT feels extremely hyperbolic, but I also can’t sit here and say I don’t understand the similarities. Edwards is starting to build a reputation that centers around his obsessive competitiveness and high-flying antics. His ability to get downhill and control his body around the rim is also reminiscent of what we saw from Jordan.

“I still lean toward a Dwyane Wade comp for Edwards, particularly when we consider his athletic build and viciousness (something about Jordan’s game felt more fluid and graceful). But, again, I get it.”

As Edwards continues to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves on their quest for a championship, it seems inevitable that he will draw more and more comparisons to Jordan the more he wins.

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Derrick Rose MVP listed among those that ‘went to the wrong player’

Should Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose have won his 2011 MVP?

As soon as he was drafted first overall, Derrick Rose became a legend in Chicago. The local kid playing for the Chicago Bulls made a name for himself, putting the team back on the map. His success in the city culminated in the 2011 season, when he won the MVP award, but David Kenyon of Bleacher Report believes that it’s one of the ones that “went to the wrong person.”

“Similar to Nash, the memory of Derrick Rose winning an MVP is enjoyable,” Kenwyon wrote. “Especially knowing the career-altering injury that soon followed, it’s sort of a relief that he brought home the award once. But you know why we’re here.

“In a near-unanimous vote, Rose bested Orlando Magic star Dwight Howard (and LeBron). Chicago won an NBA-leading 62 games behind Rose’s 25.0 points and 7.7 assists per game—and a hellacious, top-ranked defense that atoned for his shortcomings on that end. Howard, meanwhile, carried an injury-plagued Orlando roster to 52 wins. En route to his third straight Defensive Player of the Year honor, he averaged 22.9 points, 14.1 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 1.4 steals. Rose remains the youngest MVP winner at 22 years old.”

With Dwight Howard’s incredible season going overlooked, as well as LeBron James’, should Rose have won the award in hindsight?

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LeBron James catching up to Michael Jordan in The Athletic’s GOAT poll

Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan was voted on by players as the GOAT, but LeBron James is catching up.

The Athletic has conducted a yearly poll with anonymous NBA players for years, and one of the questions they ask is simply, “Who is the GOAT?” Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan has led the poll since the question started getting asked, but this year’s numbers continue the trend of years past: LeBron James is catching up.

“Do you think MJ’s getting nervous? King James almost took his (player poll) GOAT crown this time around, and he’ll do just that next year if this voting trend continues,” wrote Sam Amick and Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “In this endless debate, His Airness has experienced serious slippage for the third consecutive poll. Jordan had a huge edge in 2019 (73 percent to LeBron’s 11.9 percent) and was still nearly doubling him in 2023 (58.3 percent to 33 percent). Now the gap is only 3.8 percent.

“It makes some sense, though, as James is doing things at this late stage of his career that players this age have never done. And these many feats, it’s quite clear, are changing the way some players see this debate. Consider the highlights of his past 14 months…”

In the poll, Jordan earned 45.9% of the votes, but James was right behind him with 42.1% of the vote. Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Magic Johnson, and Paul Pierce also received votes.

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Pair of Michael Jordan game-worn kicks from 1996 NBA Finals Game 5 sells for nearly half-million

It seems that MJ’s old kicks are seen as an increasingly sound investment.

It probably should not surprise that sneakers won in games by the man behind Nike’s Jordan Brand go for a lot of money at auction. But once again, a pair of game-worn kicks that Chicago Bulls Hall of Famer Michael Jordan just returned a boatload of cash, per recent reporting from Cllct Media’s Darren Rovell.

A pair of sneakers worn in Game 5 of the Bulls’ 1996 NBA Finals series vs. the Seattle SuperSonics has been reportedly auctioned off by Sotheby’s for a mere $482,600. The phenomena of His Airness’ game-worn kicks getting sold for huge sums is almost so regular as to stop being newsworthy at this point.

Culminating in the sale of a package of game-worn Jordan sneakers that sold for a whopping $8 million, it seems that MJ’s old kicks are seen as an increasingly sound investment.

But then, when it was your transcendent skill on the court and business acumen off it that built the Jordan Brand into what it is today, that his shoes are so valued by collectors and fans alike makes sense.

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Bulls have been one of the worst teams over the last 25 years

The Chicago Bulls have been one of the worst franchises in the NBA for the past 25 years.

The regular season has come and gone, and with it, another year of Chicago Bulls basketball is in the books. They still have to go through the Play-In Tournament, starting with the nine-ten game against the Atlanta Hawks, but the first 82 have come and gone. Chicago finished the year at 39-43.

It marks their second season in a row with a below-.500 record, and the sixth time in seven seasons that they have failed to crack that mark. Outside of the Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose years, the Bulls have failed to put together a legitimately competitive team, and of those two, only Rose managed to take the team past the first round.

The Chicago Bulls Central YouTube channel recently spoke about how the Bulls have been one of the worst teams in the league in the past 25 years.

In the last 25 years, the Bulls have the eighth-worst winning percentage in the NBA.

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Former Chicago Bulls player, exec Billy McKinney’s Northwestern jersey retired

“It’s a tremendous way to be recognized,” said McKinney.

Former Chicago Bulls player and executive Billy McKinney had his collegiate jersey retired by Northwestern University this week, according to recent reporting from Sports Illustrated’s Stephen Beslic. That honor makes him the first such athlete to be so honored in the history of the school, and that is not the only first McKinney has on his résumé.

The former Wildcat guard also became the first-ever African-American executive with the Bulls organization, joining the team’s front office after retiring as a player with the club after the 1985-86 season.

“It’s a tremendous way to be recognized … something that I’ve never thought about,” said McKinney of the honor from his alma mater via ABC 7’s Dionne Miller. “And for it to happen now, at this stage in my life … when I can really appreciate it and understand the magnitude of what it means … it’s surreal.”

“”It’s amazing to be in that environment and feel like I’m home,” he added.

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